Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary
High performance is often attributed to an organization's culture. However, culture can just as easily undermine performance when it blinds decision makers to important performance issues and entraps them in unfortunate courses of action from which they cannot disengage. The dynamics of cultural entrapment are explored in the case of the Bristol Royal Infirmary, in which pediatric cardiac surgeries continued for over a 14-year period despite evidence of poor-quality care and performance that was far below that of other comparable pediatric surgical centers. A single organizational process of behavioral commitment explains how the cultural mindset originated and why it persisted. The sequence of small, public, volitional, and irrevocable action; socially acceptable justification for that action; and the potential for subsequent activities to validate or threaten the justification created a causal loop that stabilized subsequent action patterns.
Swot Analysis of "Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary" written by Karl E. Weick, Kathleen M. Sutcliffe includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Entrapment Infirmary facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture, Performance measurement and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Entrapment Infirmary, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Entrapment Infirmary operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Entrapment Infirmary
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Entrapment Infirmary
Strengths Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Entrapment Infirmary in Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Entrapment Infirmary is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Entrapment Infirmary has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Entrapment Infirmary has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Entrapment Infirmary has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Entrapment Infirmary are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Entrapment Infirmary is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Entrapment Infirmary has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Entrapment Infirmary in the sector have low bargaining power. Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Entrapment Infirmary to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Entrapment Infirmary is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Entrapment Infirmary is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Entrapment Infirmary has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Entrapment Infirmary to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Entrapment Infirmary
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Entrapment Infirmary does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Entrapment Infirmary in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Entrapment Infirmary has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Entrapment Infirmary is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Entrapment Infirmary needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Entrapment Infirmary to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Entrapment Infirmary has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Entrapment Infirmary has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary HBR case study mentions - Entrapment Infirmary takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Entrapment Infirmary has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Entrapment Infirmary even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Entrapment Infirmary is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Entrapment Infirmary needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Need for greater diversity
– Entrapment Infirmary has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Entrapment Infirmary is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Entrapment Infirmary to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Entrapment Infirmary to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Entrapment Infirmary can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Entrapment Infirmary can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Entrapment Infirmary has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Entrapment Infirmary to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Entrapment Infirmary can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Entrapment Infirmary can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Developing new processes and practices
– Entrapment Infirmary can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Entrapment Infirmary in the consumer business. Now Entrapment Infirmary can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Entrapment Infirmary can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Entrapment Infirmary operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Entrapment Infirmary has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Entrapment Infirmary in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Entrapment Infirmary can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Organizational Development segment.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Entrapment Infirmary to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Entrapment Infirmary is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary are -
Environmental challenges
– Entrapment Infirmary needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Entrapment Infirmary can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Entrapment Infirmary needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Entrapment Infirmary demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Regulatory challenges
– Entrapment Infirmary needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Entrapment Infirmary business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Entrapment Infirmary will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Entrapment Infirmary can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Entrapment Infirmary has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Entrapment Infirmary needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary, Entrapment Infirmary may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Entrapment Infirmary high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Entrapment Infirmary can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Entrapment Infirmary is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Entrapment Infirmary needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.